


No Time to Speak

by BleuSarcelle



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon verse, Cuddles, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Love Confessions, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Pre-Relationship, Sickfic, broganes, i hate taggin so much, just like, klance, let's try this again, not out loud, ok, request from tumblr, slightly based on the titanic scene tbh, symtoms of hypothermia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-05-26
Packaged: 2018-11-05 01:13:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11002893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleuSarcelle/pseuds/BleuSarcelle
Summary: Lance is not aware of how much time has passed; the seconds seem longer, even slower than ticks, and he can’t make his brain to function enough to make sure how long has Keith’s been under the water now. He can't calculate the damage it will have on him nor does he know how much longer he can survive like this.Is there even time left?“This is no-not…how I wanted t-to see the ocean a-again.” Lance mumbles sadly, rubbing his cheek against their intertwined hands.Keith’s gaze softens and shakes Lance's hand in ressurance. Neither of them feels the motion.(The one where Klance is stuck in the middle of an icy ocean and Keith's is this close to die like Jack from titanic.)





	No Time to Speak

**Author's Note:**

> Yeees...I'm posting it again, something was wrong with the last one, sue me. 
> 
> Scenario: Exploration Mission. They came on the Green Lion only. Wild alien native monsters. Klanc e gets attacked. Separate from the team. Lance hurt. Icy ocean. Titanic door pseudo. Cold AF. Armor damaged. Thermic thingies malfunctioning. Waiting rescue.
> 
> Pls excuse any typos and bad grammar. Didn't beta'd.
> 
> Disclaimer: Voltron doesn't belong to me.

Lance puffs another breath and his mouth twitches upward when the faint warm smoke reminds him of ‘ _ dragon breath _ ’, as his nephew would call it.

His not-so-smile drops when another dragon breath comes and mingles with his own, this one fainter and weaker.

Lance’s eyes fall on Keith’s in an instant. 

“K-Keith.” He calls quietly, jaw trembling and lower lip quivering along, “K-Keith, come on. It’s - It’s my turn.”

Keith huffs one more time before he shakes his head, shifting in the slightest on the edge of the wooden plank Lance’s laying on top of before tightening his grip on Lance’s hand.

“I’m – I’m okay.” Keith replies after a few seconds in silence, softly and small, “I’m okay, L-Lance.”

He’s not. Lance can see the way his jaw tenses, trying in vain to stop his teeth from clattering. His lips are blue, taking a shade of purple around the corners. His eyelids drop every few seconds, making Lance’s heart to skip a beat every time his eyes stay close for more than a two ticks.

Lance can see the way their intertwined hands shake but he doesn’t feel a thing.

He can't feel his hand. He can't feel Keith's squeeze on his fingers as he tries uselessly to warm him up or the soft brush of Keith's thumb on the top of his hand.

There’re no more shivers running down his spine, the icy temperature around them taking its hold on them and it doesn’t help that they are not able to get out of the freezing water, thermic suits damaged earlier  and no other way to provide warm but with each other’s bodies.

Lance whimpers quietly, staring helplessly at Keith’s lower body being hidden by the dark waters below them. He leans forward until his forehead bumps against the wooden plank’s surface before raising his eyes once again to meet Keith’s tired ones.

“Keith, pl-please.” Lance pleads, trying to catch the black haired man attention by moving their hands a little, “We - We agreed on switching places –  You can’t just – You  _ need  _ –”

“Hey.” Keith cuts off, gently and softly, “Your leg i-is still wo-wounded. We need it above the - the surface to -to avoid in- infection, ok-okay? We -We agreed on  _ that _ .”

Lance shakes his head, eyes bright and desperate. “I-I didn’t – You  never said any -anything about you staying on - on the water, Ke - Keith.”

Half of their armor was gone, the thin black suit underneath barely doing any comfort to their cold bodies. Lance had demanded for both of them to be on the only available floating surface around them.

Keith had refused at first, saying that Lance’s leg needed more room and keep it from jolting it too much. The brunet was restless though, something that changed when they tried to balanced each other in the small plank and both of them ended up on the icy waters, aggravating even more Lance’s open wound.

Keith refused to try again, snapping angrily and in concern as he had pushed the brunet up on the plank, ignoring Lance’s complaints, and then he settle himself on the edge of the wood, upper body on the surface while he kicked his legs under water to keep himself afloat.

They haven’t moved since then.

Lance is not aware of how much time has passed; the seconds seem longer, even slower than ticks, and he can’t make his brain to function enough to make sure how long has Keith’s been under the water now. He can't calculate the damage it will have on him, he doesn’t know how much longer he can survive like this. 

“K-Keith.” Lance calls once more time, letting out a sigh when Keith snaps his eyes open at the calling, looking a little disoriented, “You can’t  keep – We don’t know how lo-long – You n-need to –  _ We _ need to do some- something.”

Keith stays silent and Lance frowns.

“K-Keith –”

“It’s – It’s fine, L-Lance.” Keith reassurance and Lance’s heart aches at the trembling smile on his teammate’s lips, “My –My Galra blood keeps me wa-warm enough. You - You wouldn't – It’s okay.”

Lance drops the subject, breathing out yet another dragon breath in Keith’s face hoping to warm his face somehow. The only thing it does is to make Keith scrunch his nose, making him look like a wet grumpy kitty.

Lance thinks he shouldn’t find it adorable, having in mind their current situation but he does anyways.

“This is no-not…how I wanted t-to see the ocean a-again.” Lance mumbles sadly, rubbing his cheek against their intertwined hands.

Keith’s gaze softens and shakes his hand. Neither of them feels the motion.

“The team sh-shouldn’t be that far by now.” Lance tries to reassurance, mouth still open to continue before he hears a faint growling sound that makes him frown in confusion, an uneasy feeling inside him as he tries to recall where has he heard the noise before.

Another growl appears a few ticks later in silence, this time closer and deeper. Lance’s blue eyes snap wide open when he recognizes the noise as one of the wild native animals from the planet, the same one that had chased them down earlier. Lance gasps, shaking Keith wide awake once again.

“Kei –!”

The warning comes off short and suddenly a big wave sinks them both deep underwater.

A big gulp of water makes its way down his throat by accident before he closes it and winces. Lance can see the faint shadow of the monster’s lower half near him, fighting something above the surface and Lance thanks in his mind whatever is distracting him.

Lance’s wide eyes look for Keith in the meantime, trying to move around as best as he can but his muscles are not listening to him, his lungs are burning and  _ he can’t find Keith. _

It’s exactly when something grabs him by the arm that he catches a glimpse of Keith’s bright eyes and then Lance’s screaming under water, trying to pull away from the tight hold on his arm. 

He doesn’t succeed and suddenly he’s being thrown over a hard metal platform, coughing and heaving sharply when most of the water leave his lungs.

He vaguely acknowledges the green marking on the platform or Pidge's callings of his name behind him. Lance just raises his eyes in panic and is barely able to catch the way Shiro dives back into the   
water.

“S-S-Shiro!” Lance calls breathlessly, voice hoarse and small.

The muffled voice of Pidge fills his ears. He catches a few words, nothing that helps him to make sense of what's happening around him but he takes comfort in her presence.

He feels himself shivering, shaking his entire body abruptly. It’s not until Pidge’s wiping his cheeks carefully with a concerned frown, which makes him wonders if he’s shivering from cold or from something else entirely.

“Listen to me, Shiro will find him. Lance,  _ Lance _ , listen to me,  _ please  _ –!” Pidge chants, cupping his cheeks to catch his attention but Lance’s eyes can’t look away from the spot Shiro had disappeared from.

Lance doesn’t know how long it passes, but then Shiro’s head pops up a few feet away from where they are and Lance lets out a sharp breath he didn’t know he was holding when he sees Keith’s head pressed against Shiro’s shoulder but something curls inside him unpleasantly at the sight.

It’s not until Shiro’s climbing on the platform that Lance’s breath leaves him once again. It’s when he sees the way Keith’s head tilts to the side lifelessly that his stomach drop. It’s until he sees the unmoving chest, the pale skin and the closed eyes that Lance starts screaming.

He’s not loud, he can’t be with all that his body, mind, and voice have endured so far, but he’s aching and that much is clear in his pained echoes. His voice comes off raw and hoarse, digging sharply around his vocal cords but he doesn't care. He doesn’t care in the slightest when right in front of him, Shiro’s pleading and straight out begging into Keith’s face to come back to them as he does the required compressions on the unconscious teen’s chest.

Their surroundings take a faint shade of green when Pidge’s lion puts their barrier around them, but Lance’s eyes are solemnly on Keith’s unmoving form.

“Please.” Lance whispers, “Please, please, please.”

“Come back, Keith.” Shiro shouts, a few drops of water falling from his face and Lance can't tell if they are tears. The sob that shakes Shiro’s body a tick later answers him.

“Come on, come on.” Their leader pleads and keeps performing CPR on the teen he considers a little brother, “Come back!”

“Come back.” Lance echoes weakly, “P-please, come back.”

The ticks drag on and Lance feels himself being once again under water. There’s no air filling his lungs, his vision is getting fuzzy and Keith’s figure starts turning blurry.

He pushes past his exhaustion and moves closer, ignoring Pidge’s complains about his wounded leg, and huffs stubbornly as he drags himself on the floor until he drops beside Keith, his hand hovering above Keith’s pale cheek, unsure and with hesitation.

“Please.” Lance whispers, tears falling and landing on Keith’s face.

There’s a sharp breath and suddenly Keith’s trashing, throwing his head to the side as he heaves and take big loud gulps of air right after.

“There you are.” Lance hears Shiro say, shoulder dropping in relief and rubbing small circles on Keith’s back soothingly with his flesh hand, “We got you. Small breaths, Keith. We got you.”

The teen shudders and it’s when Keith raises his eyes and meets his own that Lance throws the only speck of patience left in him and then his launching forward, arms wrapped around Keith’s neck.

He apologizes under his breath when Keith grunts at the impact but Lance’s hold just tightens when he feels the way Keith’s chest expands against his own and how  Keith’s gasp tickles his right ear.

So, Lance holds him. He shifts and moves around until he’s gathering the slightly smaller teen on top of him, placing him half-sitting on his lap.

Keith’s mumbling incoherent words, confusion and exhaustion clear in his words but Lance doesn't dare to answer him. He just holds and relishes on the silent reassurance of Keith’s alive pressure against him.

It’s not long before his own exhaustion is pulling him under; the warm and safe feeling of having Keith’s on his arms making him finally feel at ease and relaxed enough to drop his guard.

Suddenly, a big warm blanket is placed around their two bodies and Lance just sighs contently as he sinks deeper into warmth.

“Lance?” He hears Shiro’s soft calling near him and the brunet blinks his eyes open, staring groggily at his leader, who offers a gentle smile at him, “I’m going to fix your leg now, alright? I will be quick and then you can go back to sleep.”

Lance just hums, mouth twitching before he turns and buries his face on Keith’s hair, sighing contently when he notices that it’s not as wet as before.

Shiro pulls the blanket closer to their bodies before the drops on his knees and starts working on Lance’s leg. Lance makes a sound of appreciation, bringing Keith’s body closer to his own and sneaking his hand around until he’s holding the silent teen’s hand, intertwining their hands once again and his heart flutters with excitement when he feels the smooth chilly skin underneath his fingertips.

Lance sighs and sucks in a relieved sob, face still hidden from the world in Keith’s hair. His stomach turns warmly when Keith unconsciously snuggles deeper into their hug and it’s then when Lance knows their bond has turned into something beyond friendship.

He’s coming with the realization that while he is okay with the revelation, he doesn’t know Keith’s answer on the topic, if there is even an answer.

The firm pressure of cold lips being pressed against his collarbone make his thoughts stop on their track and then he looks down, eyes wide in surprise when Keith blinks tiredly at him but there’s a soft small smile on his face.

Lance’s heart flutters and he smiles back, chest tight and warm as he leans closer and nuzzles his forehead against Keith. Seems like they are on the same page.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank for reading! <3
> 
> Here’s my tumblr, just in case: [bleusarcelle](http://bleusarcelle.tumblr.com)  
> AND my writing tumblr for small drabbles I don't post here: [bleusarcellewrites](http://bleusarcellewrites.tumblr.com)


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